Do Canadians want more electronic services from their government?

TORONTO, ON, April 19, 2012—PwC is launching new research to see if Canadians are ready to receive more services and information electronically through their phones, computers and tablet devices. The project, called Citizen Compass, begins April 18, 2012 and invites the public to participate, in either a survey format or an idea forum to make suggestions or discuss issues. The link to the site is http://CitizenCompass.pwc.com.

“We thought the time was right for a new debate on how governments could be increasing their use of e-services to communicate with the public and more effectively provide traditional services, such as issuing car licences and passport renewals,” says Michael Jordan, Public Sector and Government Services Partner for PwC Canada. “New technologies are changing the way Canadians are doing business. At the same time Canadian governments want to do more to efficiently manage costs and keep up with consumer demand for different eservices.”

On April 11, 2012, PwC ignited the dialogue— called Choicebook —with 2,000 randomly-selected participants from across the country. They will open the survey to all Canadians starting today, April 18th to May 18ththrough advertisements and social media. Participants can also contribute towards The Idea Forum, which allows citizens to express their opinions in more detail about e-transactions, privacy, and convenience as well as suggesting their own ideas. “We hope to see a broad range of dialogue from across Canada on the issues to better understand the potential and challenges of changing or transforming how government delivers its services,” says Jordan. The results from the Idea Forum and Choicebook will be analyzed and shared with government decision-makers in late June 2012.

PwC Canada helps organizations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. More than 5,700 partners and staff in offices across the country are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax, consulting and deals services. PwC Canada is a member of the PwC network of firms with close to 169,000 people in 158 countries. Find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.com/ca.